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This month marks the 10th anniversary of my first convention - Visions 98, in Chicago, where I met

theradarmun for the first (and thus far, only) time in the flesh, after having befriended her online spring of 1997. I have photos from this event, somewhere. I just can't seem to find them, aside from a half-dozen tiny scans I emailed to people in 1998. I am going to try and find them for the "10th Anniversary" of the event, if I can.

I started going to conventions relatively late in life, or at least "late" in terms of my capacity to get to them. Fear of being perceived as some kind of Trekkie or D&D loser scared me away from them, even if I WAS those things. Then I decided I didn't really give a toss, and started going to SF/Fantasy/Game and even Furry cons whenever I got the chance. I really enjoy the experience of "conspace", and I really enjoy being in the company of people who are simply enthusiastic about something.

In the late 90s and early 2000s, one of the events I most looked forward to was attending Primemedia and (later) Conthulhu, pleasant cons organized by

senexmacdonald,

thebitterguy, and

redeem147, among others.

2002 was the big year. I managed to get to Anthrocon to sell books I'd written. Part of the fun was the experience of the roadtrip. Anthrocon was a solo voyage, with books and radio shows on tape for company, courtesy of

doc_mystery. I headed southward with "no provision but an open face", as it were, or at least no decent maps. I will never forget, as darkness fell, putting on a tape and listening to the narrator talk about someone driving through "the mad, dark hills of Pennsylvania." I wrote about the con in glowing terms.

I had a very nice digital camera I'd borrowed from the newspaper. I took hundreds of pics, which I had burned to a CDR when I got home. The disc has since disappeared - I seem to think I someone left it at

mar2nee's house, but presumably she'd have given it back! Aside from exactly two thumbnails, none of these images now remain. They used to be here, if any of your Internet-clever-chaps can extract them from the ether.

A couple of month later,

velvetpage and I attended C-ACE, and in 2003 I went to GenCon with

doc_mystery. These events were likewise well photographed... and once again, all the photos have vanished, somewhere. It isn't until late 2003, when I acquired a digital camera of my own, that the records start, as it were.

This is a long rounded way of telling you that I'm about to post still more photos in my journal. Stick around, because a lot of YOU are in them...

The Sanguine Lunch, Anthrocon 2004. L to R are

leonard_arlotte,

rikoshi,

normanrafferty (in con-going shirt!), LJless Lynx,

shavastak (at the head of the table),

tealfox,

andreal,

wggthegnoll and

melskunk!

melskunk, before the bloo! Dig the crown, though. We drove home doing "King of Town" impersonations. Anthrocon 2004, somewhere in New York state.

wggthegnoll and

melskunk, upon our arrival at Anthrocon 2004.

wggthegnoll in full costume.

bardbloom! Anthrocon 2004, again. Erstwhile author of World Tree and quirkily serious fantasy fiction.

mufi and

aprivatefox, playing World Tree. Folks I'd love to get to know better.

wggthegnoll and

shavasktak. I miss

shavastak!

2004 was the year I went to both Anthrocon and Gencon. Awesome!

wggthegnoll and I stopped at White Castles en route. I described it, later, as "the nastiest thing I have ever put in my mouth... and I've eaten sand."